CHAMELEON, ka-nWl(-fin (Lat. channe/con, Gk. xapati.ior, chamaileCat, frion xllpai. chanioi, on the ground + lion). An African lizard of the family Channeleonthhe, of very pe culiar form and structure, and placed at the head of the order laccrtilia. The body is much com pressed, the dorsal line sharp, in sonic of the species rising into an elevated crest t the hack of the head is also elevated into a sort of cone. The neck is very short, and does not admit of the bead being turned, for which, however, com pensation is found in the remarkable powers of motion possessed by the large, prominent eyes, which move independently of one another, and are covered with a membrane pierced only with a small hole for the pupil to look through. There are no external ears. The skin is not covered with scales, but, like shagrcen, is rough with granules. The legs raise the body rather higher than in most of the saurians: the toes, both of the fore and hind feet. are into t ,wo sets, one directed forward and the Other backward, so that each foot has the power of grasping like a hand. The tail is long and prehensile. The lungs are very large, and are connected with air cells that lie among the nmscles and beneath the skin, so that the animal has a remarkable power of inflating itself with air. The tongue is re markably extensile, and is the organ by which the animal seizes the insects which constitute its food, being darted at them with unerring aim, while a viscous saliva causes them to ad here to it, and they are carried with it into the mouth.
The ehamelemis are slow' in their movements, except those of the eyes and the tongue, and remain long fixed in one spot. awaiting the ap proach of insects, which they seize on their el )111 ihg within roach. They all live among the branches of trees. but lay their large eggs (10 or 121 under leaves on the ground. Their power of fasting is great, and, along with their gulping ut air. gave rise to the fable. current among the
ancients and until recent times, of their living on air, and led to other fables and to their an•ient use in medicine. Their eelebrated power of color is not equally fabulous, and may he used to render the animal less easy of oh s( rvation, by assimilating it to the color of stir rounding objects. It may depend in part on the action of light: it is certainly connected with the fear and other passions of the creature. Milne Edwards has discovered that it depends upon the presence of two differently colored layers of pigment underneath a transparent skin. Both may show simultaneously, or blend, or one may replace the other. This power of changing color is possessed by many lizards, and is explained more fully under AIETAenuosts. One species (Ohamakon rulgaris) is found wild along tlm European shore of the aril is often made captive.
American Chameleons are the small, slender lizards of the ignanid genus Anolis. very com mon throughout tropical America and represent ed in the southern [idled States by a single species (Anolis prineipalis) , often also called 'scorpion.' It is 3 to inches long in body, with a tail 5 to li inches long. Below it is white, above emerald-green, or the color of any natural object 'won which it rests. Beneath the eapaeious mouth is a large dewlap, which "can be vertieally expanded like a fan, when it is of a deep-red shade. or may be retracted so as to be scarcely visible." They arc extremely active during the warm hours of the day, and extremely amusing as they dart and scramble about bushes, rocks, or buildings in search of insects, of which they destroy a vast number. In Jamaica and the Antilles they are often household pets. A close ly allied tropical species is illustrated on the Colored Plate of LIZARDS.